Tribune News Service — Sharon AI and New Era Energy & Digital announced their flagship Texas Critical Data Center planned for Ector County has entered its second phase. Phase Two engineering has begun and involves detailed site planning, site clearing and infrastructure integration for the campus. The companies are collecting bids for site clearing, which is expected to get underway within the next 60-90 days.
The two companies also announced they plan to close on the acquisition of an additional 203 acres within 60 to 90 days, expanding the site to 438 contiguous acres and offering potential for long-term scalability. With the additional acreage, the campus is being designed to scale to 1 gigawatt or more, supporting growing demand for AI and GPU-driven infrastructure.
E. Will Gray II, CEO of New Era Energy & Digital, said in a statement, “We are making tangible progress across all fronts including engineering, permitting, regulatory filings and land expansion. Additionally, our financial status update located within the October 3rd 8-K reflects the company’s continued commitment to transparency and disciplined execution as we advance Phase Two of the Texas Critical Data Center project.”
Additional near-term milestones for the data center campus include expanding behind-the-meter power capacity and submitting a large-load interconnection application. In 2026, the focus is expected to shift to starting construction of behind-the-meter power and commencing initial data center construction, with capacity expansion planned to begin in 2027 to meet demand.
The data center has also highlighted significant progress on obtaining air permits. The data center site is located in an air-quality attainment zone, a positive factor differentiating it from other data center projects. TCDC is pursuing a minor source air permit, a streamlined process that allows up to 250 tons of emissions per year and can typically be approved within 90 days. By comparison, a major source air permit under current air emission standards can take 18 months or longer.
The data center has executed a nonbinding letter agreement with Thunderhead Energy Solutions for the financing, construction and operation of approximately 250 megawatts of behind-the-meter, gas-fired power generation. Thunderhead intends to deploy a combination of reciprocating engines and turbines at the Ector County site over the next 18 months, subject to end-customer offtake. This is combined with a nonbinding letter of intent with Mawgan Capital to deploy its proprietary Digital Zero Power solution for the planned data center campus.
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Ector County AI Data Center Enters Phase Two
What to Know:
- Sharon AI and New Era Energy & Digital are collecting bids for site clearing, which is expected to begin within 60-90 days.
- The campus is designed to scale to 1 gigawatt or more, supporting growing demand for AI and GPU-driven infrastructure.
- The site is in an air-quality attainment zone, a positive factor differentiating it from other data center projects.
